Sunday March 4th, 2012

Jonathan Hacohen:  Posted every Weekend: Your top baseball questions from the past week are answered. E-mail all questions to mlbreports@me.com, message us on Twitter and post on our Facebook Wall!

Let’s get to your top questions of the week:

Q: Serious question, if you have a Mike Stanton signed baseball, is it worth more cause all autos from here on are Giancarlo?  Bryan

MLB reports: A very interesting question Bryan. Having collected my share of baseball autographs and memorabilia in my day, the same notion popped into my head a couple of times. Here is what the Palm Beach Post News had to say on the subject last Wednesday:

“Many friends still call him Giancarlo, however. He uses that name for his legal signature, while on baseball paraphernalia he signs “Mike Stanton.”

But he notes that his scrawl is such that his “M” looks a lot like a “G.” And teammates are starting to call him Giancarlo more often.”

So it remains to be seen what signature Stanton uses when putting down his name for the fans on pieces of baseball memorabilia, whether they be baseball, cards or other pieces. From the sounds of it, Stanton went by the name Giancarlo on/off for most of his life, along with Mike and similar names. I expect his signature will likely the stay or similar, in which case the value will remain the same. Only, and if only if, his autograph changes drastically would the value of the old signature have any kind of serious increase. But again, as long as the signatures stay the same or similar- value is the same. Thank you again for writing!

Q:  Who are the next top 5 Second Basemen in Baseball? Ackley, kipnis, spangenberg, espinosa, o. tejada?  Jason

MLB reports: Loaded question my friend. We recently ran the top-5 second basemen in baseball, courtesy of our Intern, Bryan Sheehan. Bryan named Utley, Phillips, Kinsler, Cano and Pedroia as his top five. Now who are the next best second basemen (6-10) or top-5 second base prospects? I am going to assume you mean prospects. Great list you have there Jason, looks like you have your finger on the pulse! Any discussion of the next “big” second basemen begins and ends with Dustin Ackley. The Mariners top hitter from last year is expected to only be better this year. Sky is the limit for him. Cory Spagenberg is getting a ton of press from San Diego and for good reason. A great all-around player, especially for his speed and defense- we like what this kid is about. One that you missed is Kolten Wong in the Cardinals organization. He is also seen as a good one, especially for an expected consistent bat. I know a ton of people are high on Danny Espinosa. But I’m not there yet. He will be 25 this April, but needs to show that he can hit for a higher average and cut down on his strikeouts. The power is already there and if he gets a little more consistent, future all-star games could be in the cards. I am fairly comfortable with Jason Kipnis. While he won’t hit 30+ home runs, he has always hit for a decent average and knows how to do all the little things. He has a lower ceiling than Espinosa but is much more consistent. Keep an eye on him to be a steady contributor. Last, but not least, another one to watch is Jemile Weeks. Steady glove, bat and speed. Oakland is very high on him…and for good reason. Like a good wine, he will only get better with age.

Q: If you were to be commissioner of baseball…what would you do first?  Monica

MLB reports: Thank you for your question Monica. I answered it quickly on Twitter the other day, but wanted to elaborate. If I was named MLB Commissioner, once I was done partying and celebrating (about a month later), I would get down to serious business. I would be very interested to do a complete overhaul of the divisions. A full realignment. But before I would consider that step, I would firstly expand. Add two more MLB teams to the fold. I wrote about this topic on July 1st, 2011: https://mlbreports.com/2011/07/01/mlb-expansion. I would like to get two more cities involved, as I believe that there is enough talent to go around and the revenues produced would be of great benefit to everyone. It is impossible to fathom how many cities would love to have a MLB team. If put into power, I would make that happen. I have enjoyed debating this topic for almost a year with our readers and the discussion is still not getting old. People have very strong feelings on expansion and for the most part, would really like to see it happen. With the increase in amount of teams that make the playoffs, this its the perfect time to start considering expansion. With that being said, I will now go sit by the phone and wait for the call…

Q: Chris Young thinks he’s getting a major league deal? Did not realize fantasy was a major at Princeton.  Howard

MLB reports: Only Howard Megdal could come up with such a classic line. LOL, well said Howard. Young had spectacular numbers for the Mets last year, over the grand total of four starts. Given his lack of health over the last four years, I think that I have a better chance of getting a major league deal from the Mets than Young. He is Princeton education and very bright. But either he is playing a strange game of chicken or he is simply sleep deprived and frantic after waiting for a call from a team with a contract.

Q: Is the year of 2012 going to be the year of the pitchers? Should I draft a lot of pitchers early? Or should I draft the hitters? Or maybe pitcher, then a hitter. It’s head to head scoring. I’m somewhat new at this and your help would be appreciated! Thanks!  Dominic

MLB reports: Hi Dominic. Thank you very much for your question! I will tell you that everyone has a different fantasy baseball strategy. You are starting off, so you will need to figure things out for a couple of years at least before you know what works for you. But to start off, I can tell you what has always worked for me. Draft hitters. Draft them early and often. Don’t even look at pitchers before rounds 8-9. I will tell you simply why. Pitchers are not reliable. They get injured quicker and more often than hitters, for the most part. Finding good hitters at premium positions is often a challenge. Make sure you have at least one solid hitter catcher, a top third baseman and first baseman. At the very least. Look at the stats of your league and go after pitchers that fit the criteria of your particular league. Do you count holds? Strikeouts? That makes a huge difference. Then go through the players, make a cheat sheet and look for the players that have the stats you need but are unlikely to be undervalued. Don’t draft based on name recognition (common rookie mistake). Look for players with good upside and potential, that are likely to give you strong stats across the board. You will always find good to decent pitchers. But hitters…those are precocious commodities that are tough to duplicate. Think of it this way. If you stay strong on the waiver wire and call-ups from the minors, you can always find the next up-and-coming starter or closer, if you watch the market carefully. Again, depends on your league, roster size and setup. But if i’m drafting, I go for hitters. Always.

Last Question…and this one makes our “Angry Questions Hall of Fame”. Get ready, this one is a classic:

“In regards to Brien Taylor and his drug arrest it is very unfortunate.  I went to high school with and played baseball and basketball with Brien.  The recent events cannot be disputed but the events that started his demise as stated by Mr. Hacohen are completely wrong and unresearched.  For someone as esteemed as Mr. Hacohen to publish an article without knowing the facts and present them as facts, I find it very irresponsible.  The night Brien injured his shoulder he was trying to find out who and why his cousin was attacked and beat up earlier in the night.  He was tackled by the attackers and fell on his shoulder.That IS what happened, he did not take a swing and miss as Mr. Hacohen states.  As for the “gangster image”,  if Mr. Hacohen had even spoken to or met Brien, as I’m sure he has not,  he would know like everyone who knows Brien that he is a very soft spoken, gentle and humble man.  Brien fell on hard times and lives in a poverty stricken area.  This is no excuse for selling drugs but it doesn’t give someone the right to make generalizations and pass off his opinions as factual.  Where did Mr. Hacohen get his information and what actual research did he do?  I could go to Wikipedia or read other peoples articles, pass them off as facts and call myself a journalist but all I’d be is a lazy journalist. In the case of Mr. Hacohen’s comments about Brien Taylor that’s all he is….a lazy journalist.”  Garland

MLB reports: Well Garland, firstly thank you for taking the time to answer us back so quickly on yesterday’s post. I would have got back to you sooner…but sorry it took me a few hours, you know it is difficult being lazy and all! Now you may want to go back and read my article again then Garland. It was clearly indicated that “as the story goes” and “supposedly” Brien took a swing and miss, ended up missing and dislocating his pitching shoulder and tearing his labrum. But let’s see the story as you tell it. Brien went to find out “who and why his cousin was attacked and beat up early in the night”. Sorry my friend, but in my world, that is called putting yourself at risk and looking for trouble. Did he expect to talk it out? Was he meeting these attackers at a library? Coffee shop? Museum? Probably not. I am sorry to hear that his cousin was attacked. But there are other ways to deal with these types of matters. Perhaps calling the police and filing a report would be a good start. But going out that same night to deal with the matter could only have led to problems…which they did. So now, according to you, he was tackled by the attackers and fell on his shoulder. Again thank you for the clarification. But in reality, that is not far off. I assume if Brien was being attacked, he did not sit idly by and get hurt. He likely would have defended himself. I certainly did not indicate that Brien was simply going around randomly attacking people. But whether Brien swung and missed or was jumped on, the bottom line was that he put himself in a very poor position, which resulted in a career-ending injury.

Now you indicate that the recent events cannot be disputed- but you centre on the story behind his demise. I think that you missed the point of the story. I did not by any stretch advocate that Brien is a gangster. Read it again. But young people, reading that a former athlete was trafficking  cocaine and crack cocaine would associate that with the “gangster” lifestyle. While in some circles that gives someone a great deal of street cred, in reality it just results in someone going to prison for a long time. That was the point. I can’t imagine that anyone could argue that Brien made some very bad choices that led to his demise. Going out to talk or confront attackers of any kind after an assault incident occurred will only normally lead to trouble. From there, putting one’s career at risk and following the cycle with drug trafficking is a sad ending to a story. I do not know Brien Taylor, nor do I claim to know him. To focus on the minor details of Brien’s story is to get away from the big picture. His story is a common one of “athletes gone wrong”. That is what we want our youth and future athletes to avoid. So that they can fulfill their potential and not having taken away at a young age like Brien did. Once you re-read the story and reconsider, I believe that you will see this story differently. Either way, thank you for taking the time to read the Reports and for sharing your views. You clearly have a lot of passion and loyalty to your friend and that is a good thing. An important thing in our society. Brien will need all the friends he can get to rally around him to help him see through his troubles and hopefully turn his life around. If Brien would like to share his story and join us on the Reports, I would welcome the opportunity to feature him anytime.